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March 2012

To the cry of "thief" and "liar", students, along with workers, drove the Vice-President of the CNT from a University and forced him to renounce the Government

The young man tells how ' abd al - Hafidhz Ghoga impressively, arrived with four brigades’ field teams armed with hand weapons as “a protection”, to offer, supposedly a tribute to the wounded and martyrs of the revolution. This was on Jan 17 at 11 am.  In a populist gesture he presented a paper with the budget for the University, but, as this student says, "numbers were not clear", i.e., he did not explain where the money was to come from, how much was allocated, what things it could afford, etc.

This generated the wrath of students who began to shout "thief, liar" and there the students began to demonstrate of the college. Seven of them addressed the Vice-President of the CNT, politely asking him to withdraw. But he refused again and again. Instead of leaving, he climbed the stairs, surrounded by students who booed and repudiated him. Suddenly he stumbled, and in order to get up from his embarrassing situation he pushed a woman student, stood up, and threw her to the floor.

This further sparked the ire of students, who attacked Ghoga. Two of his bodyguards took their weapons to try to disperse the youth. One of the students hit the guard and could take the gun out of his hand. The other guard fired twice in the air and managed to run out of sight. Gogha also managed to escape and his guards took him away in his car.

The students regrouped at the scene and signed an Act with a record of what had happened, clarifying that Gogha had been the aggressor, and that his bodyguards had fired a gun at a University, which is a public space.  Later on, a gang of thugs, led by Gogha’s son, came at the University to beat the students, who had already gone. This was also added to the minutes. The next day students and militiamen mobilized at the Palace of Justice with the Act, which was taken with indifference, as it was not signed or recognized by the President of the University or the college Dean (Mohammad Dghaym and Ahmed Mami respectively), who still now refuse to acknowledge the facts. They turned a blind eye, the latter saying that it is a matter corresponding to the University and the former that it corresponds to the college, so passing the ball back and forth between each, saying that they can do anything. It was then that they went to see Mustafa ' abd Al-jalil, President of the CNT, who adduced not knowing what had happened and tried to play fool, prompting the anger of the protesters, who in subsequent protests unleashed their fury and passed to action.

The sector of students interviewed depicted Jalil as a man who at first seemed to be sincerely working for the revolution, but that now is totally corrupted. They believe a worker -someone from the people, should govern so as to give the people what it needs, as this would be dictated by their needs.
They are also opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood, because they are seen as the cause for this present situation in which a Government of "the common people"--as they say, is not established.
At the proposal of a Congress of the militias, combatants and workers to set up a Parliament to assume all the power, these militant students agree that it is something somewhat workable, but there would be a problem: they see a great division all over Libya, so they think it should be necessary before to work for the unity.
They are willing to fight, and if they saw a Government which they do not like, they would fight against it - they claim-. They would join any initiative that could progress in this regard, as so many other fighters and spirited sectors which feel they need to centralize and unify their forces.